Claudia Stucke, a former high school English teacher who lives in Decatur, remains the “Jeopardy!” champion, winning for a second time Wednesday night.
She will compete again Thursday on "Jeopardy!" (7:30 p.m. on WXIA-TV NBC).
The final ‘Jeopardy!’ clue: Russia took out $200 million in insurance, anticipating any damage that might be caused by this in 2001. While none of the contestants answered correctly (Stucke guessed “Chernobyl”), and Stucke entered the final round in second place, Stucke bet no money on the final clue and emerged the winner for the second consecutive day.
(The correct answer to that final clue was: What is MIR crash?)
Stucke’s victory Wednesday lifted her total winnings to $30,600.
On Tuesday night, the final category was “Classic Children’s Book Characters” and the clue was: The name of this character who lives in a forest is a shortening of an Italian word for a newborn. Only Stucke got it right - Who is Bambi?
Stucke is one of two residents from Decatur on ‘Jeopardy!’ in the same week. Fellow Decatur resident, Steve Stoffle, a leadership trainer finished first in last Friday’s episode, winning $17,599. He came in second Monday night.
She said she made some new friends, and loved every minute of the experience.
“It is something on the bucket list,” she said. “It was a wonderful experience. Everyone was so nice.”
Stucke said she doesn’t consider herself a competitive person. The former editor for many trade and professional publications said she doesn’t devour books either. Instead, the humble woman said she is just someone who happens to know a lot — about many subjects.
“I am one of those people who knows a lot of things,” she said. “It’s just the way I am wired.”
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